The short version
Use PlanningLens if you’re planning to apply — an extension, a loft conversion, a change of use — and want to know how your council and ward have actually decided applications like yours, before you spend £4,000+ on drawings and fees.
Use PlanWatch if you’re watching, not applying — you want an email when a neighbour files an application, in time to comment during the 21-day consultation window.
Plenty of people sensibly use both. They overlap far less than their names suggest.
Side by side
| PlanningLens | PlanWatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Built to answer | “Will the council say yes, and how long will it take?” | “What’s just been filed near my home?” |
| Core product | Approval rates, decision times, refusal patterns and rankings calculated from decided applications; free property-specific PDF report | Postcode search showing recent applications within a radius; email alerts when new applications are submitted |
| Data depth | 3,800,000+ decided applications from 312 council portals, with records back to 2020 — enough history to calculate meaningful approval rates per council, ward and project type | Focused on recent submissions. As of June 2026, PlanWatch’s own council pages report holdings in the hundreds per council over recent months (for example, 157 records for Brighton & Hove, 329 for Manchester) |
| Coverage | England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; figures scraped directly from council planning portals | England-focused; sources include planning.data.gov.uk and council portals |
| Statistics & rankings | Approval-rate rankings, decision-time league table, ward-level breakdowns, project-type analysis | Not the focus — per-council pages summarise recent application counts and categories |
| Alerts | No — PlanningLens does not send new-application alerts | Yes — free weekly digest; paid tracking with instant alerts (30-day trial, as of June 2026) |
| Price | Entirely free — postcode check with no signup; full PDF report free by email | Search free; ongoing tracking and instant alerts are paid features |
| Accuracy check | Validated against the government’s own MHCLG statistics — our Canterbury householder figures landed within two points of the official number (42% vs 44%). Methodology → | States its data is drawn from planning.data.gov.uk and council portals |
| Source transparency | Every figure links back to the original council record so you can verify it yourself | Links searches through to the official council record |
When PlanWatch is the better choice
Honestly: if your job is monitoring, PlanWatch is built for it and PlanningLens isn’t. If you want an email the week your neighbour files for a three-storey rear extension — while there’s still time to comment — that is exactly what PlanWatch does, and PlanningLens has no equivalent feature. Their guides on how to object to an application are aimed at that same reader.
It’s also worth knowing that many councils run their own free alert services, and your council’s own planning portal is always the authoritative record for any individual application. See our full guide to PlanWatch alternatives for the complete landscape.
When PlanningLens is the better choice
If you are about to spend money on a planning application, recent submissions near your postcode can’t tell you much — they haven’t been decided yet. What predicts your experience is how your council has actually decided applications like yours: its approval rate for your project type, in your ward, and how long decisions really take against the 8-week statutory target.
That requires depth, not recency — millions of decided applications, going back years, classified by type and outcome. That is the entire PlanningLens dataset: 3,800,000+ decisions from 312 councils, every figure traceable to a council record, and the totals cross-checked against the government’s own statistics.
The honest verdict
Different tools for different moments. Watching what your neighbours file? PlanWatch. Deciding whether — and where, and how — to apply yourself? That’s the question PlanningLens was built to answer. Run a free postcode check and see the approval patterns for your street, or browse the national rankings.
Frequently asked questions
Is PlanningLens free?
Yes — everything, including the full property-specific PDF report. No signup is needed for the postcode check. PlanWatch’s search is also free; its ongoing tracking is a paid feature as of June 2026.
Does PlanningLens send alerts about new applications?
No. PlanningLens analyses decided applications to show patterns; it does not monitor new submissions. If alerts are what you need, PlanWatch or your council’s own alert service is the right tool.
Where does each site get its data?
PlanningLens scrapes decisions directly from 312 council planning portals — the same records the councils publish — and validates aggregate figures against MHCLG’s official statistics. PlanWatch states that it draws on planning.data.gov.uk and council portals.
Last updated: June 2026. Statements about PlanWatch are based on its publicly available pages as of June 2026 and may change; PlanWatch is an independent service unaffiliated with PlanningLens.